A Carbon County man who was charged with holding another man a gunpoint entered a guilty pleas on Tuesday in the county court and was sentenced to a prison term.

Joseph Blair, 45, of Palmerton, entered pleas before Judge Joseph J. Matika to one count each of recklessly endangering another person, ethnic intimidation, harassment, all misdemeanors, and a summary offense of public drunkenness. In exchange for the pleas, the district attorney’s office dropped a felony 2 count of aggravated assault.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by Shawn Leadbetter of the Palmerton police filed charges against Joseph and Danielle Blair:

The arrest report stated at 8:21 p.m. May 16, Leadbetter was dispatched to a home in the 500 block of Lehigh Avenue for a fight in progress.

Leadbetter arrived on scene and multiple people were yelling at him that a man, identified as Blair, was holding another man at gunpoint in the yard next to the home. When police ordered Blair to drop the gun, a loaded Smith and Wesson 9 mm handgun, he threw it on the ground and was taken into custody with no further incident.

Witnesses told police that Blair walked over into the yard and held the victim at gunpoint for several minutes until police arrived. A witness had video and said Blair made several racial slurs at the victim on several occasions during the encounter.

Blair told police he saw his neighbor involved in a fight with his wife and he ran over with his gun to help her.

At 9:04 p.m. patrolman Brian Stern was dispatched to the residence. A witness said Danielle Blair, 46, left her porch and walked in the street, screaming at a neighbor, yelling obscenities. The victim said Danielle also yelled, “I will (expletive) kill you.”

Leadbetter and Stern had advised Danielle on multiple occasions during the previous incident to stop screaming. Stern detected a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage emanating from her.

Leadbetter and Stern went to Danielle’s residence in the 500 block of Lehigh Avenue, knocked on the door and announced their presence as police officers multiple times. Another neighbor told police Danielle was in the house.

Danielle didn’t respond to police.

The fire department was then dispatched and were able to gain entry through the front door, and police took her into custody.

Stern then spoke to the victim, who said that he was sitting on his porch when Danielle started screaming obscenities at him, and said that, “I will (expletive) kill you” to him. The victim then said that Danielle came onto the property, shaking the fence and yelled and screamed at him. Danielle admitted to police that she drank alcohol and screamed at the victim.

Danielle Blair faces charges of terroristic threats; disorderly conduct; and public drunkenness.

Blair has been an inmate in the county prison since his arrest.

On the recklessly endangering count Matika sentenced him to serve 6 to 12 months in prison with credit for 115 days already served. He was also ordered to get a mental health evaluation and follow any recommendation for treatment, render 75 hours of community service when paroled, have no contact with the victim, pay court costs of about $1,000 and pay a $50 per month supervision fee while on parole.

On the other misdemeanor counts, he was placed on probation for a year, running concurrent with the first count. On the summary charge, he was sentenced to serve 15 to 30 days in jail with credit for 30 days already served and paroled.

Danielle Blair previously pleaded to one count each of persistent disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor and a summary offense of public drunkenness. A charge of terroristic threats was dropped in a plea deal.

She was placed on probation for six months.